On the roads this summer, he finally defends his splendid “At the coming dawn”. And leaves its legendary reserve to try to tell itself differently.
Paris Match. You started your tour on June 9th. Does it look like the ones from the world before?
Francis Cabrel. Nothing has changed. It’s almost as if nothing had happened, despite this long parenthesis where everyone moped. But, for us, on stage, the reflexes returned immediately, we play as before. The crazy thing is that the audience is masked. And I can’t forget it, because the first ten rows are in the light. It pains me for the people who are listening.
Your singing tour is intended as a musical demonstration. Is it by dint of playing together that we reach this level of complicity between musicians?
Yes I think. Drummer Denis Benarrosh has been by my side for thirty well-sounded years, Alexandre Léauthaud, the accordionist, has been there for fifteen years, Freddy Koella, the guitarist, for ten and Nicolas Fiszman, the bassist, for eight years. So, yeah, it’s starting to sound like a band. We have played a lot together in recent years, in France, but also in America, Canada. And recently we were joined by three choristers. This is something that I stole from Leonard Cohen when I saw him in Toulouse. I had been amazed by the female voices. Between all of us now, all it takes is a glance for a title to be extended or, on the contrary, to be stopped dead. They are musicians who are completely invested in the songs. There are even times when I would like to be seated in the room to see what it feels like “from below”.
The public reacts more than well to recent songs. In particular on “Te resembler”, title on your father, where you let your guard down.
Indeed, it is a song in which I indulge myself, so it conveys a lot of emotions, each one reliving his own story.
Was it a duty to write about your father?
It is something that I had fixed for myself a very long time ago, almost like a common thread of all my “writings”. But with each album I postponed the case. In the end, I had talked about a lot of people in my songs, except him. But he is still the major character of my story. Left too early for him and me to discuss everything we should have.
But you, the modest one, you sing it in front of the crowds.
Yes and it is not nothing. Every night I really live the song, I don’t recite it. Each verse, I feel it pass, as they say, at the cost of a little shamelessness and indiscretion. Which always made me back down. But I couldn’t finish my career without talking about my father.
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Every time I have had a child, it has been felt in my records. I discovered that I was more of a father than a singer
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How has shamelessness always made you back down?
To reveal myself, to tell about my childhood, how we lived, I have always found that miserable. And, even if I don’t like fairy tale stories, it is true that we started from nothing, even triple zero… My father sacrificed himself for us by working every day of his life. There were three children to be supported on a minimum wage, but really a minimum. There was no leisure, we saw people on weekends lounging, taking advantage of it. We, no, we always had to do something useful for the home.
Do you still feel injustice?
Injustice, no, but astonishment, yes. On the one hand, there is too much for some and, on the other, not enough for others. My dad threw his kids into the deep end, they all got off in different ways, but he really worked hard. Me, I got away with the guitar, which fell on me with Michel Polnareff and Bob Dylan. I found it funny to have one in my hands, but I didn’t know how to use it. I was just posing, it was an attitude of rebellion compared to what we had experienced. Basically, my father was not well rewarded for his hard work. If I can draw a parallel between my life and his, I believe that when I get down to it I am as hardworking as him, I have the same concentration, the same tenacity.
Have you ever felt like you had to sacrifice your personal life for the benefit of your career?
No. On the contrary, I took my time as soon as I could… My first contract stipulated that I had to deliver five albums in five years. I only made four. But, as I was successful, I then asked Sony to no longer indicate the number of albums expected. It was my luxury.
“Success has always weighed on me, burdened me, even a little more.” © Hélène Pambrun / Paris Match
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In “The Melted Candles”, you say: “If one day I met the ballroom singer that I was, we would look at each other like two strangers. He’s who I was that I miss the most. ” Are you nostalgic for the life before success?
Yes, of who I was, quiet, before notoriety fell on me. Success has always weighed on me, encumbered me, even a little more. And if everything had to be redone, I would think twice. I’m not the Beatles on my own, but true discretion – the one that appeals to me the most, towards which my temperament goes – is really upset by all those stares that land on me at times. It’s the other side of the coin, even though I’ve learned to live with it. So I avoid certain streets, I don’t go on vacation to certain places, in order to have a completely anonymous family life. The loss of anonymity is still a big shadow on the table.
Yet you are cited as the very example of the low-key singer.
Yes, but not yet enough. I admit that you have to make an effort from time to time to approach people. But, after each TV show, I feel the wave coming back.
During the concert, you do “Des hommes similes”, “Ma place dans le trafic” and “Rockstars from the Middle Ages”. Is it Cabrelian mathematics, saying these brutal things casually? It’s the air of nothing that I like the most in this sentence. Because it’s the heart of my job. Otherwise you become a politician and you say brutal things behind a desk, confronting each other, agreeing to debate or even fight. Me, my subject is musical above all and above all. If it was just about talking about love, that would be insufficient, if not not interesting. So to say that I live in this world, that I watch it, that I observe it, that’s the very least.
Can a song change the world? Help to raise awareness?
Unfortunately no. I would have liked the bullfights to stop overnight. But that didn’t change anything …
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Success has always weighed on me. The loss of anonymity is still a big shadow on the board
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If we go back to your discography, you have always wanted to denounce, to write social songs. And yet you have long been seen as the one who sang only love songs.
Yes, but I’m glad it turned out that way. And I think I have the image I deserve, since I have often put love songs on the front line. After that, I always wanted to chronicle like Bob Dylan, my main initiator, who could sing stuff like “my fiancee just left” and suddenly rocked a social song. Not only did it make him thick, but it was also a way to find out more about him. And then there is still something useful: even if the songs do not change the world, at least they give relief to the person who writes them.
So all we want to know about you is in your songs?
Normally yes. There is no need to write a book or an article about me. [Il rit.] What matters is to say that I have both feet in the same company as you. So, yes, I sing pretty little love songs that are like an entry, if you take the time to come and listen to me in concert, to discover other things.
Finally, you are not that far from a Renaud. You start almost at the same time, he becomes the angry, committed singer, and you the singer of love songs… Did you like it that we did not see your commitment?
Renaud goes there, raises his fist. Me, it is rather felted. [Il rit.] I did some social songs, overflowing a bit. But I especially did not want to make fuss. I always had the concern to say what was on my heart, but seeming not to touch it. Without being frank, in a way. [Il rit.] I don’t walk into the light screaming. I always mean. And my way of singing like my musical envelope forbids me any form of brutality in the speech. To put it another way, fist raised, I’ll leave that to those who do it very well. Bob Dylan, we come back to it, spoke of many social facts. But it was Joan Baez who was an activist.
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Fist raised, I leave it to those who do it very well
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Women will change your life. The arrival of your daughters inspires you with your most beautiful records: “Sarbacane”, in 1989, then “Samedi soir sur la Terre”, in 1994, and “Des roses et des netties”, in 2008.
Yes, every time I had a child, it was felt in my records. It fills my heart with love and a whole load of feelings to share that probably make me write better. The real hyphenation comes with “Mailify”. This is the first time that I have decided to take the time to make a record, since I let four years pass between it and the previous one, “Travel Photos”, which was only half successful. I am approaching my forties, I have just had my first daughter and I also understand that it is more than that that matters. There, my real life takes hold. I discovered that I was more of a family man than a singer. It’s clear.
Have you ever thought about stopping everything?
No. I have always thought that at the speed I am going I can do both at the same time. Without neglecting anything.
You sometimes sing “Mademoiselle l’Aventure”, this song addressed to the biological mother of your third daughter. Why did you feel the need to write it down at the time?
I don’t sing it often. It’s true that when my daughter is in the room, it bothers me a bit. It’s hard to interpret, because people who adopt go through all of these times. But I wanted to describe them. The original text is even more poignant, I made a final version a little watered down to manage to sing it in public.
You are not the type to shed tears on stage, however …
No, it does. [Il sourit.] Adoption is a wonderful gesture of love but also a matter of conscience, since we take someone out of their environment.
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“At the coming dawn” (Columbia – Sony Music).
Currently on tour, July 12 at Francofolies (La Rochelle), July 17 and 18 in Nîmes (arenas) and 22 and 23
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